Silver Amalgam Fillings

[treefrognyc]

I thought I'd put this one out to anyone who has knowledge about silver amalgam fillings.

I'm 6 months pregnant and got slipped a fast one by my very young dentist the other day: He filled a broken old silver filling with more silver amalgam filling. I knew there was an option for the white (non-mercury) type because he even mentioned it. However, when he rushed to put the replacement in, he never asked which I wanted. By the time it occurred to me, it was too late.

Besides this "new" one, I have seven other small silver fillings left over from my childhood. How worried should I be, really? I can take the truth...

Thanks!

[etsdtm99]

i've never gotten one during pregnancy but i have a bunch of old silver fillings.. a bunch..

[finnegansmom]

are fillings bad?

[at_the_hip]

I had an old filling (amalgam) in a baby tooth (no adult tooth formed under it) break and lose a chunk during my last pg (#4). I was given some choices - pull the tooth, fill with more amalgam, or wait until after my pg to fix it. Because it was a baby tooth and I did not feel comfortable with more amalgam or potentially ingesting more from leaving it as it was, I did have them pull it. If I wasn't pg, we would have drilled out the old filling and replaced it with a white one - no question. It was a tough choice but I felt like I made the best one for my baby at the time.

But honestly you are probably better off with what he did than if he drilled it out and replaced it, by far. Mercury definitely crosses the placenta - but a newly placed filling exposes you to MUCH MUCH MUCH less mercury than the vapors that you breathe in when they drill the amalgam fillings out. So given the choice, I think that was the better one of the two!

[SAmama]

It isn't so great that your tooth got filled with amalgam during pregnancy, but like a pp said, much better than having them removed. First, I would change dentists. I would not trust any dentist that still uses amalgam, and during pregnancy . Not with myself and definitely not with my children.
Definitely DO NOT have any amalgams messed with while you are pregnant or breastfeeding again. At all! There is a lot of info on it on the dental boards. Also, if you do have fillings removed, there is an actual protocol to minimize exposure. And after you had work done there is an amount of time to wait (several months... maybe up to 18, cannot remember) before you can safely ttc again.

[finnegansmom]

I feel so out of the loop that I didn't know these were dangerous. I actually lost a filling in the spring and had it replaced (old silver, new white) and I had no idea it was so toxic... and I was nursing at the time.

[Tulafina]

I too had a silver filling removed right around a year postpartum(still nursing) but I went to a Dentist that specializes in silver filling removal. I had just one small filling and I knew that I would be either nursing or pregnant(or both at the same time) for the next 6-7 years....and I really worried about having it in there. So after the removal I took some homeopathic remedies and selenium which were given to me by a homeopathic doctor, for excess toxins in the system. Not sure if this did anything but couldn't hurt. I got pregnant about 4 months after...the dentist I was seeing saw no problem with this. I would make sure you see a dentist that specializes in silver filling removal if you are planning on going that route. I was covered from head to toe, had a shield through my entire mouth except the tooth they were working on, had oxygen and a special mask put over my face etc....I felt very safe while it was being done.

I personally would look into getting them removed if you have coverage of some sort. My dentist replaced it and put into my insurance forms that it was old and needed to be replaced(over 10 years old) so I had full coverage through my DH's insurance. Not sure if this is something you could do? I researched quite a bit before I had it removed and I'm very glad that I did.
HTH,
Julie